100 years of NTM is highlighted by the publication of Jan Hozák

Prague - Under the title The Story of the National Technical Museum (NTM), this Prague institution has published a lavish photographic book on the occasion of its hundredth anniversary. The author Jan Hozák shows through the fates of people, stories of collections, individual exhibits, and buildings what determined the development of the museum during a time that was an era of technology and technical progress.
The publication is divided according to periods important for the museum, which coincide with significant stages in the history of modern Czech statehood. Each of the ten chapters begins with a text about the museum's development and the nature of the times, supplemented by a collection of unique photographs, posters, and documents, illustrating the century-long development of the museum as well as society and technology in the context of the history of the city of Prague.
A short prologue introduces the predecessors of technical museology up to 1908. This is followed by the period from the establishment until the end of the First World War in 1918, the period of the First Republic, the construction of a new building in Letná at the turn of the 1930s and 1940s, the difficult situation during the Protectorate, and the post-war start of new activities until 1950. Subsequent chapters focus on the nationalization and transformations of the museum during the communist era from 1951 to 1989 and the existence of the NTM under democratic conditions from 1990 to the present.
"The reproduced material comes from our collections, whether from professional departments or from the archive or library. A large part consists of unpublished and little-known materials," said museum spokesperson Alice Třísková to ČTK.
Hozák has been an archivist at the NTM since 1974 after graduating from the Faculty of Arts at Charles University. He specializes in the period at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the iconography of technology and industry, the history of the presentation of technology, the history of technical museology, and the beginnings of Czech aviation.
The NTM has been closed to the public for two years; the second phase of reconstruction of the main building ended last fall. General Director Horymír Kubíček predicts that it should reopen in September 2010, marking 100 years since the first technical collections were made accessible in Prague. The gradual opening of exhibitions is planned for the years 2009 to 2010. The goal is to restore the building in the spirit of the original ideas of architect Milan Babuška from the 1930s. By removing older structural modifications, four new exhibition halls and two smaller ones for exhibitions in the ground floor and basement have been created. For the first time, exhibitions of printing, architecture, construction, and design will appear, and the transport hall as well as the ore and coal mine will undergo modernization; the exhibitions of astronomy and photographic and film technology will be expanded.
Before the reconstruction, one-tenth of nearly 50,000 collection items were on display, attracting about 200,000 visitors each year. The museum also cares for more than 800 archival funds, an extensive collection of photographs, drawings, and graphics. The specialized library has over 200,000 volumes of literature.
The third phase will include the reconstruction of the basement, facade, and museum grounds, as well as storage rooms and other workplaces from 2009 to 2011. Looking ahead to 2016, the construction of a new museum building on the adjacent plot is planned for 1.5 billion crowns.